Photograph
by pathogenicmicroorganism
Summary: Sendoh, with the help of an art project, gets a love life. Now he just has to convince his target of affections to accept it, no matter how many mood swings she is able to come up with in a day. UPDATED
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys!

Now everyone knows that I don't own Slam Dunk. If I did, I'd be Rukawa's girlfriend by now.

So all disclaimers apply! Don't sue, I beg you! Thanks for reading, and please review.

**Photograph**

Chapter One

Hiroshi Mira made her way, as usual, to the Ryonan High School gym with her professional digital camera in hand. Just because it was the first day of the new school year doesn't mean that she should take it easy and stop taking photographs.

The door was open, and she went up to where most of the other students were watching the school's basketball team warm up for practice. She smiled. The basketball team was almost as reliable as she was, they were always ready, on time, and determined to make every practice better than the last.

Like her when it came to taking photographs.

She takes each photograph with deliberate precision, taking her time with each shot, waiting until her subject was in complete focus and hitting the shutter button at the exact time when her subjects displays the most drama and effect.

She looked at her camera and smiled. She was very fond of it. It was a sleek, profession, digital camera, like the one professional photographers use. It cost a fortune, money that up until a year and a half ago, she lacked. She had been saving ever since she was a little girl for a special camera, and it took her until she was seventeen to afford one.

It wasn't that her family was poor, but her experience with her own left her to fend for herself, and not rely too much on others. Her parents are separated, and lived on opposite sides of Japan. She didn't blame them for it, their fights were known all over the street they used to live, and not being able to take any of it any longer, Mira made a bold move and filed for legal emancipation.

She shocked her parents with this, but in the end they conceded. They still support her though. They send her enough money every month to pay for her schooling, her clothes, and her basic needs.

Even so, she got a job in a fast food store, working on both weekends the whole day since she couldn't work on weekdays. She didn't need the extra money, but now that she was living alone, Mira felt comforted that at least she had money to spare.

As she looked at the display behind the camera, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. Her camera lens were following the movements of one certain boy, the new captain of the Ryonan Basketball Team, Sendoh Akira.

Mira had reason to be surprised. Sendoh was almost always late for practice, a habit that caused him to stay behind every single practice. Mira would, of course, know this because she usually photographs the team.

_Must be trying to make a good impression,_ she thought, _being the new captain and all._

She looked around and saw that many girls, most of them freshmen and third years looking, or more like swooning at Sendoh. Mira smirked, and focused her camera again.

It wasn't that she didn't like Sendoh, but she didn't go all crazy for the boy. She liked him, but don't fall head over heels over him. What she liked best about Sendoh was that he photographed well.

Mira has this knack to hit the shutter button at the exact same moment when Sendoh was making powerful and bold poses, so that everytime she prints a photo of him, she was almost always amazed of how beautifully it turned out, and wondered at times, whether she really took that picture.

Not that she was arrogant or anything. It was just she was always amazed at how well Sendoh appears in photographs.

There were whispers around her, and from the corner of her eye, she saw the other people with her pointing at her. This was normal, as she didn't have any close friends. Most of them just come to her when they need help with their work or if they need their picture taken. She really didn't care that much for friends. As long as she has a camera on hand, she's happy.

She had taken about a dozen pictures now, of the team warming up, of them dribbling amongst many other things. She took one of the coach and Sendoh talking, of Sendoh ordering the new recruits around and the vice captain, Koshino, facilitating the warm up.

She's bound to reject ninety five percent of them.

Poised with her camera in hand, she patiently waited for the real practice to begin.

* * *

"I'm still amazed you're here on time, Akira," said Koshino, as Sendoh walked past him. He hada big grin in his face. "Being responsible now, or is this just pretend?"

Sendoh gave him a small smile. "I have to set up an example now," he said, "being captain and all."

"Yeah, and you don't want to be punished by Coach Taoka in the first official practice of the year."

Sendoh smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that too."

"Any other reason?" asked Fukuda suddenly, who was obviously listening to the conversation.

"No one else to go to, I guess," said Sendoh.

Koshino grinned at Fukuda. "That just means that he doesn't have a date or a girlfriend."

Sendoh smiled, but didn't say anything. So what if he didn't have a girlfriend? There were many girls fawning at him right now. He looked up at the spectators. Many girl screamed as he looked up. See? A lot! His attention was then caught by a girl whose face was hidden behind a camera. When he looked directly at the camera, the girl turned the camera on the other direction, but he still didn't see her face. See, they're even taking pictures of him! He saw that the girl's hair, whoever she was, was shiny, and black, with streaks of bright blue.

_Interesting,_ he thought, _wonder who she is?_

"Who you looking at Sendoh?" asked Fukuda, looking up as well.

"That girl," he answered, "with the blue streaks in her hair. Do you know who she is?"

Fukuda shook his head. "Nah, sorry man," he said, "but she comes here every practice, with that camera permanently glued in her hand."

"Glued?"

"I only see her during practice, and don't see her not holding the thing," he said, stretching his arms, "all I know is that she's in your year, and that she's a school photographer."

"That explains the camera," said Sendoh. "Any chance you know her name?"

"Nope."

"Name of who?" asked Koshino, walking over.

Sendoh looked at him. "The girl with the blue streaks in her hair," he said looking up again. She was focusing her camera on the new recruits. "Do _you _know her name?"

"Nope," said Sendoh, "but she's in your class, Sendoh."

"_What?"_

Sendoh stared at him, eyes wide. Did he just hear him say that that girl, that blue haired girl is in his class and he hasn't noticed? _Then again, _he thought, _it is just the first day of classes. And there were a lot of girls in his class, most of them throwing themselves at me..._ He then thought that he was being incredibly smug and fought the urge not to hit himself in the head.

Koshino looked incredulously at him. "Haven't you noticed?" he asked slowly.

"No!"

"She's not that hard to miss, Akira."

"I told you! I haven't noticed!"

"Well now you know," he said, stretching his legs. "So you might as well ask her what her name is."

Sendoh found this all surprising and slightly frustrating. "How can I have not noticed her?"

"Well it is just the first day of school, Akira," said Koshino, grinning, "it took you about six hours to notice her, in a month you'll probably know her name, and in six you can date her and then at the end of the year you can propose."

Sendoh gave him a look. "Funny," he said, though he didn't laugh.

"What are you three doing there?" demanded Coach Taoka, "get back to warm up!"

"Yes sir!" they chorused, ending their conversation. Soon afterward, they began playing games, seniors versus the rest, and Sendoh could faintly hear the sounds of a camera clicking whenever he comes close enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello!

Hala: Hey there! It's okay if you don't review, as long as you keep reading! I've already posted chapter ten of that, and here's the next chapter to this story. Hope you like it, and thanks too!

Caelestis-wolf: Hello! You can think of Mira as you, since you two are so alike! And I won't make Sendoh too OOC, at least I hope I'm not. Tell me if I am okay? Thanks for reading, and review this one too!

On to the story!

Photograph

Chapter Two

The reason Sendoh hadn't noticed the blue-streaked-hair girl before was because she was sitting at the far corner of the closer, and she looked oblivious to the ruckuss that was going on in the classroom.

Sendoh was sitting by the window, in the middle of the classroom, and he cupped his chin on his palm as he stared around the classroom. A few girls were looking at him and giggling girlishly at him, but his eyes lingered on the camera girl – by now he had many nicknames for her – on the corner, looking down and studying something intently. Sendoh thought that she was studying photographs, naturally.

He still hadn't broken his look when she looked up and stared directly at him. He thought that she looked nice, she didn't have a lot of makeup on, from what he could see, it was just eye liner sorrounding her eyes. She was fair, with thin lips, and icy blue eyes, the kind of cool blue that was one usually sees in a pristine and untouched beach.

She stared directly at her, without a hint of a smile, as if demanding _why_ he was staring at her. He just smiled at her, a smile that she didn't return. She didn't look coldly at him though, he guessed that she thought there was no need to smile back. This he found refreshing, all the rest of the female population in the school would just fall over laughing if he stared at them.

He couldn't spare another thought on the subject anymore, as the teacher came in. He saw at the corner of his eye the girl keepher stack of paper and focus her attention in front of the room.

Sendoh couldn't care less, and was fighting the tempting urge to fall asleep.

* * *

Mira wondered why he stared at her like that. She wondered if he even knew her name. As she looked at the photographs that she got, those that passed her test, which out of 56, only 6, she felt a pair of eyes staring at the side of her face. She looked up, and sure enough, Sendoh Akira was staring at her, for reasons unbeknown to her. She really couldn't care less, there was no need to smile back at him, to show any emotion. She didn't need people after all, just her camera. 

_Well, there's Divo, too,_ she thought, smiling a little, as a picture of her large Saint Bernard popped in her mind.

"Is there something funny?" the teacher asked her, looking pointedly at her.

Mira flustered, and looked around. Some girls ere giggling at her, pointing. Sendoh wa taking the opportunity to look at her again, a smile in his face. "Erm," she said, "no, nothing's funny."

"Well, now that we have started to act our age," the teacher said to Mira's indignation. She only smiled, for goodness sake, "let's begin."

By the end of the day, her head was swimming with new information, of complex theories and models. She went to her locker and got out her camera, and headed once again to the gym. On the way, she photographed a few trees and flowers, since it was a windy day and it was causing the plants to have a dramatic effect that she liked seeing in her pictures.

She left the gym before practice ended, eager to have some of her pictures printed. She already deleted those that weren't good enough, and found that she had twelve beautiful pictures to print.

The school paper's office was still open, and provided that she had her own photo paper, she can use the photo printer any time she wanted. She printed them out quickly, and grinned at the results. It was some of her best work yet, her subjects included a blood red rose, an apple tree, and Sendoh Akira.

With her camera in one hand and the photographs on the other, she made her way to the front doors of the school. She was walking in the second floor hallway, not looking in front of her, her attention focused on the photographs she was flipping through. One of the pictures was clamped in her mouth, and she was studying the picture of the rose particularly hard.

If she would have been looking at where she was going, then maybe she could have avoided what had happened next.

She collided head on to someone. She was so shocked that both her hands went over her head and she threw the object she was holding up and away from her.

Mira closed her eyes as she heard her camera land on the floor with a sickening thud.

* * *

"Oh god, I am so sorry," said Sendoh, his eyes wide. He dropped his bag on the floor. He was observing the murals on the wall as he walked towards his locker at the end of the hall. He didn't realize that he had hit someone until he had hit that someone. He was even more surprised when he saw that he had hit camera girl. 

He bent down and started to pick up the photographs. There were a dozen of them in all, and it didn't take long for him to see that she knew what she was doing. The pictures were beautifully captured, especially the one of the rose. He raised his eyebrows when he picked the last one up and saw that it was him, hanging in mid air with the ball in his hand, poised for a slam dunk.

He was deeply impressed.

Of the girl, not of himself. He wasn't Sakuragi Hanamichi, after all.

He stood up and stacked the pictures one on top of the other, expecting to see the girl staring at her, with her hand out to accept them.

She was still on the ground.

Sendoh moved closer to her, and saw that her head was bowed low, and she was looking at something. When he saw what she was looking at, his stomach flopped inside him.

The camera, the expensive looking camera, had flown out of her hands, and landed on the cold hard floor, leaving it in a number of large pieces. The display was cracked everywhere, and so were the lens. Scattered around the big pieces were smaller black plastic ones. One of those pieces looked very much like the shutter, and the buttons near the display screen.

Sendoh gulped. This was partly his fault, if not entirely. It looked like such an expensive camera.

"Erm, miss?" he asked tentatively.

She didn't seem to hear him.

"Excuse me," he said, a little louder, tapping her on the shoulder. Sendoh went down on her level, and when he saw down she turned to him. Her cool blue eyes were shining, on the verge of tears, and the pained expression on her face couldn't be described well enough to match what she was feeling right now. "I'm really sorry," he said, handing over the pictures. She didn't take them. "I'll gladly pay for that," he pointed at the broken camera.

This seemed to shake the girl out of her stupor. She suddenly blinked away tears and immediately collected all the broken pieces of her camera. "There's no need for that," she said sternly, "I don't need your money."

Sendoh raised his eyebrows. "No, this is partially my fault, -"

"Well, since it's just _partially _your fault then you shouldn't take the full blame," she said, looking at him. She managed a small weak smile, but it didn't hide the sorrow in her eyes. "I'm sorry for hitting you," she said softly, "I wasn't looking at where I was going."

"I wasn't looking either," said Sendoh, "here are your pictures."

She took them gratefully. "Thanks," she said, putting them in a folder in her bag, then collected all the camera pieces.

"They're beautiful photographs," he said honestly, trying to lighten the situation.

This made the girl smile, but it was still weak. Sendoh felt a little frustrated as he looked at the camera. They were both on their feet now. "Look, I really wouldn't mind paying- "

The girl shook her head. "Please," she said in a pained voice, "I don't want to burden you, and truth be told, I don't want your money."

"Oh," was all Sendoh could say.

She picked up the pieces of the camera, with a pained look in her face.

"If you don't mind," she said, not looking at him, "I really have to go. I'm sorry again."

With that, she walked past him quickly.

Sendoh wasn't quite sure what had just happened. He began slowly walking in the original direction he was going, then turned around again.

The girl had stopped in front of her locker, and placed the broken camera pieces gingerly inside. She then placed her arm on the door of the locker and buried her face in it, shaking slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

No reviews, sniff, but there are hits. I really do hope people are still reading this...

Photograph

Chapter Three

Mira had brought all the pieces of her camera to a small repair shop in the mall, in the hope that there would be some way to fix it. She knew that it was a very long shot, but she couldn't help but try.

Her heart dropped like a stone. "There's _nothing _you can do?" she asked.

The man looked at her sympathetically. "Sorry, miss," he said, "there really is nothing. It's broken beyond repair."

She was afraid of that. She cursed silently. If she had only looked at where she was going, maybe this hadn't happened. How can she have been so stupid? Why couldn't just one of them had looked up and dodged out of the way in time for her camera not to break? She looked up in the heavens, a questioning look to the ceiling.

"I'm really sorry," he said, watching her closely with a sympathetic look that Mira despised in people. She hated it when people think that the right thing to do was pity her, she was just stubborn that way, "but I think that you should start thinking about getting a new camera."

If it was possible, her heart sank even farther. _Buy a new camera,_ she thought, snorting inwardly, _yeah, that would be as possible as having my parents get back together._

She thanked the man - she still had herrespects -and walked home crestfallen. She looked at the broken pieces in her hand. There goes more than a decade of savings, she thought gloomily, down the drain.

As she walked, she couldn't help but feel slightly angry at Sendoh. Why did he have to choose that particular time to walk in the hallway? But she did soften when she thought that he had offered to help, to pay for the damages, to pay for the camera.

During that time, that was what brought her back to her senses. She had vehemently refused him paying for anything, thinking that people can't possibly be trusted no matter how talented or popular they are. _More so if they were talented and popular,_ she thought. She had grown up trusting no one but herself and she wasn't going to begin trusting someone just because they offered to pay for her digital camera.

This was just her being hard headed. She had lived a difficult life, having to deal with screaming parents, horrible scandals, and no friends. This caused her to rely on herself, because if she wasn't going to do it herself, she'll die. It seemed like such a hard philosophy for an eighteen year old, but then she does have a hard life.

Divo, her dog came bounding happily at her when she got back home. He was easily half her size and twice as adorable. He, of course, had no idea why Mira was being so gloomy, so she decided to give him a small smile and pat him lovingly as they entered her home.

She stood in front of the garbage can. She moved away from it just as quickly. She just didn't have the heart to throw it away.

* * *

Monday came and Sendoh locked his jaw as he entered the classroom. All throughout the weekend, whenever he wasn't playing basketball, he thought about what had happened in the hallway a week before. The girl's sad and pained look was etched in his brain and try as he might, it just wouldn't go away. 

He was ridden with guilt and the only possible solution occurred to him yesterday: either he paid for the damage or he would replaced it with a new one.

Now, he wasn't the richest guy in the world. If he just as much money as Rukawa Kaede had –a fact that he learned through a certain girl not to be discussed at this time – then he wouldn't have any trouble going to the mall and buying a camera just like the one she had. Unfortunately, he didn't have the kind of money needed to pay for one of those, he checked on the mall the day before. That left only one other alternative.

"Hi," he said, sitting next to the blue streak haired girl.

She turned her head, which was then rested on her desk and stared at him with her cool blue eyes. She didn't answer him and his smile faltered when she didn't smile back.

"I was just wondering if you were okay," said Sendoh, trying again, his smile still bravely hitched back in his face.

This time, there was a flicker of surprise in the girl's face, and she managed a small smile. "I'm fine," she said quietly.

Sendoh heard whispers behind him from the other girls, but he ignored it.

"Don't you sit over there?" she asked, pointing at the chair he usually sits.

Sendoh smiled again. "Well, yeah, but I thought that maybe a little sitting rearrangement would do me good," he said. "I'm really sorry about your camera."

The girl shook her head. "It's okay, I'm sorry for hitting you."

Sendoh waved it off. "Is there any chance of fixing it?"

The girl nodded her head gloomily. "I checked," she said, "they told me to start looking for a new one."

Sendoh looked as crestfallen as she was. "I'm really sorry."

"Forget it," she said, resting her head on the desk again and looking extremely glum.

"Listen," said Sendoh, "I really would gladly pay for it, -"

The girl turned to him, a slightly irritated expression in her eyes. "I don't want your money," she said icily.

Sendoh was taken aback. It was such an icy tone that he hesitated whether he should do what he was about to do. "Well," he said slowly, "can I at least know your name?"

The girl studied him silently. After a while, he took out his hand and presented it to her, "I'm Sendoh. Sendoh Akira," he said, "what's your name?"

The girl looked at him for a second longer, then took his hand and shook it. "My name's Mira," she said. "Hiroshi Mira."

"Nice name," he said, fishing out something from his bag. Mira looked curiously at him. "Here," he said, handing over a silver digital camera, slightly bigger than the one she doesn't have anymore.

Mira didn't take it. "And what," she asked, eyebrows raised with a haughty expression in her face, "am I suppose to do with that?"

"It's yours to borrow," said Sendoh, "I borrowed it from my cousin, he doesn't use it much, and I thought it might serve a better purpose with you."

Mira glared at him. "I don't want your money," she said coldly, "so why the hell would you think I would want _that_?"

Sendoh's ever present smile faltered for the second time in fifteen minutes. "I'm only trying to –"

"I don't want your help," she said, "don't you get it?"

"But I thought since you love to take-"

"Listen to me Sendoh," she said bluntly, glaring at him and leaning in dangerously, "I've lived the past decade of my life fending for myself, never relying on anyone but me, since there's no one else that I can turn to. I've learned to trust no one but me and I'm not about to stop doing that and rely on someone like you just because you happen to have been there when my camera flew off my hands and broken into a thousand pieces. Now why don't you get that through your thick skull and leave me alone."

Sendoh felt highly offended, and placed the camera back in his bag. He glared at her slightly, and stood up. "I just thought that since you love photography so much you could let your pride down a notch," he snapped. "I'm only trying to help, to make you feel better."

"Well stop then," she answered, not looking at him.

He gave Mira one final look and stamped back to his seat by the window. He saw most of the girls in his class glare murderously at Mira, and though he couldn't help but feel irritated, he found that he wasn't angry.

Mira stared at him through those blue eyes. He saw that they weren't the cool blue eyes of someone who tries to hide everything about their life, but they were the icy blue eyes of someone who had suffered and been hardened by a difficult life.

Sendoh decided then and there that he wasn't about to give up on her. He didn't know what it was about her that made him so interested, but he was determined to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, I'm back!

**Simone**: Thanks for the criticism. I appreciate it. Really, er, I'm not sure how to make this story much more interesting, cause I think that _I _find it interesting, but if you can suggest stuff, you're more than welcome.

**Hala**: I'll try to spice things up. You're so nice to me...

**caelestis-wolf**: I know she was a jerk. She's suppose to be a jerk. What I actually did is read it backwards, and you're right, there are a lot of errors. If you find some more here, let me know and I'll edit it right away.

Anyway, thanks for the criticism guys! Feel free to criticize, tell me if you're getting bored, if my writing sucked, or any other thing in the sun! Thanks!

Photograph

Chapter Four

The teacher cleared her throat. "All right, settle down," she started.

Mira looked up at the front of the class. She had been thoroughly depressed for the past week, and it was Friday, the end of a horrible week. She had lost any enthusiasm for anything, she had not participated in class discussions, she had done homework half heartedly, stopped watching basketball practices, and basically walking around spreading gloom in the world, glaring at anyone who would dare to look at her straight in the eye.

The weather was mocking her. She had always thought that it was a weird thing that the sun and the clouds do in a foolish attempt to cheer her up, only it always turned out that she would hate the world more as the result of their futile if not brave attempt. She saw that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, the sun shining brightly outside. The sky was a rich forget-me-not blue, and it irritated the hell out of her.

Looking out the window meant that in her line of vision, Sendoh Akira can also be seen. He had not talked to her after snapping at him Monday morning, but there were times that they catch each other's eyes. Mira didn't care much, but did feel guilty for shouting at him. Her conscience has been scolding her for the past week, citing the fact that he was only trying to help and he was only trying to be friends and that she should stop acting all sad and misunderstood and just apologize to the guy.

Mira was doing a good job of ignoring her conscience. Eventually, it just gave up, although it does make snide remarks whenever Sendoh was on her line of vision. She hated it for it.

"Okay, class," said the teacher, finally Mira had managed to shake out her thoughts and turn an attentive ear to the sensei, "we're going to do a project, done as partners."

Immediately, all of the girls except Mira clamored out of their seats and rushed to Sendoh, shouting in his face to be their partner. Mira looked away pointedly, and stared at her desk instead.

"SIT BACK DOWN!" the teacher shouted. The gaggling girls all stared at her and sulkily went back to their seats. All of them then turned and cast longing and obvious looks at Sendoh.

Sendoh smiled weakly and seemed to be contemplating a way to get out of class unscathed.

"Okay," said the teacher, breathing hard, "now that we've started to act like civilized human beings, I will assign your partners –THERE WILL BE NO OBJECTIONS AND MY DECISION IS FINAL!" she yelled again as all the girls, save Mira, started voicing out their objections.

"SHUT UP OR IT'S DETENTION FOR ALL OF YOU!"

The girls all sat back down and looked at the teacher sulkily.

Sensei looked at Sendoh, who looked utterly bewildered and confused. "Now, Mr. Sendoh, since you're so popular with the ladies, let's assign you a partner first." She looked around. Mira heaved a sigh as she looked at the girls in her class. They looked like they were mentally willing the teacher to pick them. She smirked, and looked down at a piece of paper in her desk, and started doodling.

"Ah, Sendoh Akira, you're partnering with Hiroshi Mira."

Silence reigned for five seconds, then -

"_Her?"_ asked Sendoh.

"_Me?" _stuttered Mira.

"_HER?" _chorused the rest of the girls.

Mira stood up in protest. This was bad, very bad. Not only is her conscience dancing the conga in her stomach, but she had a feeling that she won't be leaving this classroom alive."But sensei –"

"My decision is final, sit back down Ms. Hiroshi before I put you in detention!" snapped the teacher. Mira blinked twice, then sat back down slowly, slightly shocked and scared for her life. The girls in the class were looking murderous once again. It was now Mira's turn to comtemplate how she would be able to leave this classroom unscathed.

Mira didn't hear the rest of the partner assignments, she stared widely at the board in front of her, taking in what just happened. She's been partnered with Sendoh Akira, _why? Why her? Why now?_

Why the heck would she be partnered to someone who just a few days ago, she snapped at to go away, someone who made her drop her precious camera? _Why_, she thought looking up at the ceiling, _why do you punish me so? _She then remembered a line from the Simpsons (no copyright infringement intended) in a shirt, and as she was still looking at the ceiling, she cried it out loud in her mind. _Oh, cruel fate, why do you mock me so?_

Someone cleared their throat. Mira looked up, and groaned.

"Hey, partner."

* * *

As soon as his greeting came out of his mouth, he felt like he said it like a pathetic cowboy. He inwardly cringed at the indiffent look in Mira's face. A second ago, she was looking at the ceiling, as if demanding to the heavens what bad thing she has done to deserve this. He just thought it was funny as he smiled at her, cocking his head to one side. Mira's original seat mate had moved to sit next to his partner, so Sendoh gladly took his chair, and sat. 

He was surprised that he was being partnered to Mira, and his vehement exclamation a minute ago was more of a delighted surprise than open revulsion. Once the shock had worn off, he thought that it couldn't have turned out better. If he had been partnered with one of the other girls, he would be doing all the work while the girl would just stare at him and giggle.

Mira looked like she was still digesting the information, although it had been announced more than ten minutes ago. She would not look at him, instead she was glaring at her desk. Finally, after a minute, she raised her head and looked at him.

She didn't say anything. She just looked.

"So," said Sendoh, feeling slightly uncomfortable, "we're partners."

She nodded, then sighed. The hard look in her eyes was slowly disappearing, and was being replaced by a warmer look, a look he was more comfortable in. "I'm sorry if I snapped at you," she said, "last Monday, I didn't mean it, I was still a bit pissed off at you, to be honest."

Sendoh waved a hand. "Think nothing of it," he said, "I guess I shouldn't have been so forward. Maybe I should've listened to you. Don't worry, next time you tell me you don't need my money, I won't take it as code for 'help me out as much as you can'.

Mira looked down and laughed lightly. Sendoh smiled as well, thinking that she looked infinitely better when she smiles.

"So, shall we get to it then?" he asked, thinking more lightly of the situation.

"Erm," she started looking apprehensively at him, "what are we supposed to do?"

Sendoh laughed. "You didn't listen?" he asked.

"I was in shock until you cleared your throat," she said, smiling weakly, "Sorry."

Sendoh smiled again. "Well, we're supposed to do a collage."

"I thought this was English class!"

Sendoh looked incredulous. "Erm, no," he said slowly.

Mira looked confused, then took out her schedule. She glared at the column marked 'Friday', and looked at the class they were having now. "Art class…"

"That's right," said Sendoh, thoroughly amused. "Art."

He smiled even wider when he saw that Mira was slowly developing a faint pink tinge in her cheeks. She looked up at him and said, "So when's English?", in a high pitched, trying to be casual voice.

Sendoh bit back a grin. "Later," he said, "last class."

"Oh."

Sendoh looked at her pointedly.

"Hey it's only the second week of classes!" she said incredulously.

Sendoh raised both hands in surrender. "Fine, fine," he said, "I won't hold it against you."

Mira raised an eyebrow at him, and then asked, "So what's the topic?"

"Moments," he said promptly.

"Moments," she said coolly.

"That's right, moments," he said again, smiling, "it's due in a month. Any media's cool as long as both contributed."

"Any media?" she asked, her eyes brightening slightly. She sat up straighter, then slumped back again.

Sendoh knew what she was thinking. In his mind he already knew that she would do this project in the media of photography. For a moment, she seemed to have forgotten that her camera was no more, but just as quickly as it came, it disappeared just as fast.

"Don't look so glum," said Sendoh cheerily.

Mira glared at him.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, "we can do photography, but you don't have a camera, so it would be no use. Maybe we can paint, but I suck at painting, maybe we can just cut out pictures from magazines, but I don't want to cut out pictures, that sounds like a fourth grade project and we'll be making a complete and utter mess, and to be honest, clicking a button sounds a lot easier to do."

Despite her icy stance, a flicker of a smile appeared on her lips.

"I think it's time you take me up on my offer," he said.

"What offer?"

"Use my camera any way you want," he said, a slight pleading in his tone, mingled with insistence, "you know the one that you practically shoved back to my through my throat?"

Mira, played along, feigning a look of comprehension in her face. "Oh, _that_ camera," she said, "well actually, I was gonna shove it up your ass rather than your throat."

"If you want to touch my ass that bad, all you have to do is ask."

Mira stopped playing along and glared at him.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he said hastily, putting his arms up again, "that glare, sheesh, it's scary…"

Mira looked at him, not glaring this time, and took out a piece of paper.

"So," she said, pen poised on top of the paper, looking in his direction, "how do you propose we do this?"

Sendoh smiled. "Well…"


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, sorry this took so long, but I've been slightly bummed out of this story e...

Simone: Hi there, thanks for the review. I'm glad to know you have the idea of what might happen, but since this is my fic, and not yours, you couldn't possibly predict anything. True, some of what you said will happen, and if you're as smart as I think you are, you may even have your own version of the events that will follow.

Anyway, I thought long and hard of what you wrote to me, and all I can say is thanks. Here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna continue this, adding a few surprises on the way, if you must know Sendoh's not irritated by her. So this isn't give and take (I know what you're gonna say too, a big exagerrated exclamation of 'ooh...big surprise!') between the two of them. Anyway, here's what I'm proposing. I'm going to continue the story the way I wrote it, and flames and criticisms are most welcome, especially from you (and I mean this truly, I really do). I have another story on the works, Auction, which I think fits your needs. Try and read it and I hope you like it.

moodygal: Thanks :) you made me feel better

Amaya21inluvRukawa: Er, I'll check if Rukawa-kun has a girlfriend. He does seem to have a lot of girlfriends, doesn't he? In this site alone, he has dozens. hehe...

Hala: Sorry it took so long, I was feeling kinda down by Simone's review. But that's okay I feel better now.

* * *

Photograph

Chapter Five

Mira walked back and forth, pacing, twisting her fingers together. She was increasingly getting bad tempered.

Divo the dog followed her movements, his large head going left to right and then back again. He barked occasionally, making Mira turn at his direction and give him a smile.

They were at the park. She had missed work today, telling her boss that she had some school stuff to do, which was true.

The trouble was, the school stuff she needed to do included meeting Sendoh Akira. She had walked Divo and they had stopped at the public park and she had been waiting for the past fifteen minutes.

She sat at one of the picnic tables, staring at the basketball court. There was someone playing there, though he didn't seem to be attentive of his surroundings. Neither was the girl that was sitting next to his bag, playing with a guitar.

Watching them made Mira miss her camera even more. If she had it, she would have taken more than a dozen pictures by now, and not only of them, but of all the inanimate objects that were in the park. In her eyes, they were all subjects, screaming to her to take their picture.

Upon closer inspection in the court, she saw that it was Rukawa Kaede, of Shohoku, shooting the ball. She couldn't point out who the girl was, or what she was doing there, but she didn't have time to do so anyway, as someone was calling out her name behind her.

"Mira!"

She wheeled around, and glared at Sendoh's running figure. When he got closer though, Divo seemed to think of him as a threat and positioned himself in front of Mira and started to growl loudly.

"Whoa, tiger," he said, stopping abruptly and eyeing Divo apprehensively. He looked weakly at Mira, "Erm," he said, "do you mind?" He pointed at Divo.

"You're late," said Mira icily, not making any move of restraining Divo at all.

"Well yes, I'm aware of that," he said, not looking at her and instead staring at Divo's exposed teeth, "practice ended late you see, and would you please stop him? He looks big enough to eat me."

Mira looked down at Divo and smiled. "Yes he is big, isn't he?" she asked.

"Big enough to _eat me_," repeated Sendoh.

Mira went to Divo's level and started patting his head. "Divo?" she asked, "he wouldn't hurt a fly, would you Divo, no you won't, right boy?" She smiled at Divo, who instantly forgot that Sendoh was a threat and instead started cuddling at Mira.

She grinned at him and then stood up again, looking at Sendoh, who had a weird expression in his face. "What?" she asked.

"Well it's just amazing," he said.

"What's amazing?" she muttered.

"Well, one second, you look like you can hit me with about a thousand flying icicles in one go with the way you were looking at me, and the next you can make any man's face melt with the way you're looking at your dog."

Mira knew that this was a compliment, by the way he said it and by the way that he was smiling at her, a half sweet, half flirtatious smile. She didn't buy it.

"I am not here to flirt with you, Sendoh," she said monotonously. "We have a project, you just happen to be my partner. Once this is over, you're out of my life, for good. Got it?"

Sendoh just shrugged, looking at Divo. Divo was eyeing him sternly, but did not growl anymore. Apparently, it was enough for him to trust Sendoh since his master obviously acknowledges his presence.

"Nice dog," said Sendoh, with another brave attempt at conversation.

Divo was practically the only living object that can make Mira swoon. She looked down at Divo, and couldn't help but smile at the look he was giving her. "He was a stray," she said, "his previous owners abandoned him near a garbage dump."

"Lucky that he found you then," said Sendoh, smiling at her.

"Actually, I found him," said Mira, patting Divo's head. "His name's Divo, by the way."

"Yes, you've mentioned it."

"I know," she said, and then saw to her surprise Divo bounding up to Sendoh's outstretched hand. Sendoh grinned and started petting him. He was so large that he easily came up to Sendoh's waist, and let's remember, Sendoh's _tall_.

"He likes you," said Mira, not voicing out her surprise. "Strange."

Sendoh's lips formed a frown. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Mira then realized that their conversation had nothing to do with the topic that they were supposed to be talking about. "We're here to talk about our project," she began. "You told me that you had an idea, now spill."

"What?" asked Sendoh, then, "Oh, right the project." He placed his bag on the picnic table and opened it. He took out the silver digital camera and handed it to Mira. "Here," he said, "this will come useful."

Mira really didn't want to take the camera. But she also wanted to use photography for a medium, in addition to really missing it. With a glum look she took the camera and started fiddling with the buttons. It looked more expensive than hers, and it looked brand new. "Your cousin let you borrow this?" she asked.

Sendoh nodded. "He just bought it cause he wanted to," he said, "but he doesn't really use it much."

Mira frowned deeply. Not using a camera this good should be a crime, she thought. "So basically," she said, looking up at Sendoh, "he just bought it for the heck of it."

"That's right."

She cursed inwardly. Whoever his cousin is, he should be hanged or murdered. "A camera is something you don't buy for display purposes," she said out loud but to no one in particular, "it should be used."

"Well, yeah," agreed Sendoh, "why do you think he let me have it?"

Mira looked at Sendoh through the display screen. Its screen was bigger than hers and with more pixels. The sticker said that it was 8.2 megapixels. Hers was just 7.0. "I'm starting to hate your cousin," she said, snapping a picture of Sendoh grinning.

"He's really a nice guy," said Sendoh reasonably.

"That's because he's your _cousin_," she retorted. "But anyway, speaking of your cousin, tell him that I won't cause a single scratch to this beautiful piece of technology that he, unfortunately and disgustedly, takes for granted."

Sendoh smiled weakly. "I think I should leave out the disgustedly part."

Mira didn't smile back at him.

"So, anyway," said Sendoh, clearly sounding like he wanted to steer clear of the subject for a very long time. "About our topic: moments."

Mira nodded. She had been thinking about that topic. It sounded so…broad. Moments, she thought, moments of what? Happiness? She didn't have much of those. Sorrow? Ah, she had plenty of those. Distress? Not a lot. Moments of wanting to be swallowed by the earth? Now that she had tons. What? What? What?

"Well I was thinking," began Sendoh, "that maybe we can do moments of … basketball?"

Mira stared at him. He had the questioning hopeful look in his eye. "Basketball?" she asked.

Sendoh nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, basketball," he said, "basketball has lots of moments that can be captured on paper. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the anger of being fouled out, the frustrations with the coach and referees, the cheering fans, the cheerleaders, the –"

He stopped when Mira held out his hand in front of his face, inches from his mouth. Her eyebrows were raised, and her mouth was twitching with an amused smile that she was trying not to show.

"Sensei said that we both have to contribute," continued Sendoh, putting down her hand, "and well, I'm not good at taking pictures, you are, and I don't know how you do at basketball –"

"I suck."

"Well, I don't," he said, but not gloatingly, "so I can handle that. You can take a whole new set of pictures, taken just for this project. And we can go to the other schools, to Shohoku, Kainan, Shoyo.

"If you don't know how to go there, I'll pick you up. We can spend the entire day together, one school per day, every weekend."

Mira raised an eyebrow at him, then looked at their hands. Sendoh was still holding hers. "That sounds like three dates," she said pointedly, shaking her hand off.

Sendoh cocked his head, and smiled at her. Mira felt her lip twitch. "It's not a date," he mumbled, "technically it's not."

"Technically," she said coolly.

"Why?" asked Sendoh slyly. "Would you want it to be?"

Mira's eyes widened and then, "No!" she shouted. The feel of Sendoh's hand was still in her own.

Sendoh backed away, holding both hands up. "It's for school," he insisted, "we just happen to be walking the same path together at the same time."

"You're one of those romantic types aren't you?" she asked, fighting very hard to not show that she was highly amused at all this.

"I am not naïve, if that's what you're thinking," he said, frowning slightly. Mira, against her wishes, thought that he looked equally as good when he smiles as when he frowns.

She then thought of something else. "Won't the other teams mind?" she asked. "I mean, we're from another school, with a camera taking pictures, and you're kind of easy to notice. Won't they think that I'm spying or something?"

Sendoh's eyes brightened. "So does that mean my idea's sold?"

Mira nodded slowly. She had to admit, it was a very good idea, and there's plenty to capture. She smiled at the camera in her hand, and handed it back to Sendoh. "You keep it," she said.

Sendoh pushed it back to her. "Nope," he said, "you keep it. You're the one who's gonna use it."

"Fine," she said, hanging it in her neck. "We'll start with Ryonan, ne?"

Sendoh nodded enthusiastically. "Going home?" he asked.

Mira nodded silently, taking Divo's leash and attaching it to his collar.

"Can I walk you home?" asked Sendoh.

Mira glared at him icily. "I know my way home," she said, and without a goodbye turned her back at him and started walking.


End file.
